


Not so sneaky spider

by sarcasmismyweapon



Series: Spiderwebbed family [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: A home made of spiderwebs fic, Adopted Peter, Adopted Peter Parker, Adorable Peter Parker, Cute, Cute Peter, Fluff, Funny, Gen, Gift Fic, M/M, Peter gets grounded, Peter sneaks out, Sarcasm, Sassy Tony Stark, Spiderfamily - Freeform, curfews
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 00:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21261755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmismyweapon/pseuds/sarcasmismyweapon
Summary: Peter's just trying to look out for his foster family, Tony and Steve really shouldn't expect anything less of the teen and sure that means that he's snuck out of the house to do so and is out past his curfew but it's for the greater good. Shame Friday doesn't understand that and spills the beans.





	Not so sneaky spider

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ninjazzz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninjazzz/gifts).

> This is a reward fic for my lovely reader and friend Ninjazzz who helped me with a project. I hope you enjoy this story and I hope it fulfills the prompt you gave me.

“Sure you won’t be too bored without us?” Tony teased as he placed his infamous sunglasses into the pocket of his suit.

Peter rolled his eyes. “I have homework.”

Steve chuckled as he came walking into the living room, having already been prepared to leave but was waiting on Tony. Hearing his foster son’s quick retort to his baiting husband Steve wrapped an arm around Tony while reassuring him. “He’ll be fine, it’s not like he’s four Tony.”

Peter snorted. “I never stuck a penny in a light socket if that makes you feel better Mr. Stark.”

Tony smirked. “Good to hear it, I thought you were smart enough to avoid electrocution what with us hotwiring that dohickie in the lab the other day.”

Peter gave a small laugh. “Mr. Stark that was a-”

Tony waved the kids explanation away, he was well aware of what they’d been working on and why. The fun part was teasing the kid shame that Peter took things literally and combatted him on every turn. He blamed Steve as a poor influence. Turning his head Tony smiled. “Ready snookums?”

Peter was snickering even as Steve sighed. “I’ve been ready, you’re the one who had to make sure that his tie was perfect.”

“It has to be.” Tony reasoned. “It’s not every day that you get to go to a gala full of bigshots and wanna be’s.”

Steve gave his husband a dower look. “We have to do this at least twice a month.”

Peter was smiling as the two bickered, it was amusing to watch the pair mostly because Mr. Stark never relented and Mr. Rogers was determined to make him see reason. They got nowhere fast.

“Pah, no we don’t. The last important shindig we attended was the signing of the accords...This is just a fancy dinner date.”

Steve gave Peter a look that spoke plainly of what he thought of Tony’s assessment of that night's festivities. “Do your homework and get to bed at a reasonable time, we should be back by midnight but no staying up.”

Peter huffed before complaining. “Tomorrow’s Saturday.”

Steve smiled at the boy’s complaint in his curfew. “Yeah, and if you stay up you’ll sleep halfway through it.”

Tony couldn’t help but laugh as his husband became the overbearing parent for the night. They might trade off on the whole parenting responsibility at any given time but watching Steve tell Peter to go to bed was humorous mostly because of how much it made the man seem old. 

“And no candy before bed.” He cut in when Steve was set to continue. Peter smiled at him, even as his husband sighed for having been cut off. Giving Steve a light smack on his ass Tony called things to order. “Come on, we don’t want to be late.” Twisting about as he was sure that Steve would follow Tony called back to his foster son. “And you better stay out of the lab kid, Friday will tell me if you try to hijack that experiment again.”

Peter gave Steve a rather pouty look that had the man chuckling. “Just do your homework, you two can experiment tomorrow.”

Sighing Peter fell backward onto the couch. “Fine.”

“Goodnight Peter,” Steve called as he made to follow his husband.

“Night!” The teen called back, a small smirk falling across his face as the pair left the tower. Rolling off of the couch Peter wasted no time as he ran down the hallway to his bedroom to gather his things. Specifically not his homework.

********

Tony adjusted his cuff links, once he was sure that they were in pristine condition and prepared to dazzle any who might look upon them did the genius glance towards his husband who was opposite him in the limo. Frowning.

“Worried about Peter?” That was the only thing that might possibly warrant the frown that was on Steve’s face.

Steve smirked back at him as he turned his head away from the window and the sprawling city he’d been watching. “Actually no.”

Tony hummed. “Then what gives? You can’t tell me that you’re afraid of a little dinner party.”

Steve huffed. “I’m not scared, I was just thinking about yesterday.”

“Ah.” Tony gave a small nod now that he understood what had prompted the look on his husband's face. “You realize that we couldn’t really have expected for a better outcome right? I love the kid, but sticking up for himself is a bit of a new skill set.”

Steve snorted, he was well aware of that. “Still, I just wish he’d done something.”

Tony hummed. “Technically he did.” Steve frowned in confusion back at him. “He chose not to punch the bastard back.”

Steve rolled his eyes, putting his arms across his chest. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know.”

“Peter doesn’t have to use much force, hell he could have just dodged...Even his classmates know that he’s fast on his feet. There-”

“There was no reason for him to get a black eye that lasted all of a half an hour?” Tony smirked. “I get it hun, truly I do but even you have to agree that the punishment for not doing anything outweighed the benefit of having to stick up for himself, at least as far as he was concerned.”

“That’s my point, Tony. Peter shouldn’t just be choosing to get hit because it’s better than having to stick up for himself. Just because he heals doesn’t mean that he should be willing to get hurt.”

Tony gave a nod, he agreed of course but that didn’t mean that they were going to get anywhere tonight when it came to driving that point into their too smart for his own good foster son. “He’s doing better Steve, just has a long way to go. I mean the other day he didn’t even hit any buildings, and the city put up new street signs so you know...”

Steve gave a small huff of a laugh. Peter did have a knack for crashing into things when new signs or buildings were under construction. Scaffolding was a big deal for the kid when he was making his way around town. “That’s not funny.”

“You’re laughing.”

Steve shook his head at his husband's antics, his head twisting about when the limo came to a stop and the bright lights of their venue came through the darkened windows. Sighing Steve couldn’t help but mutter. “I’d rather be helping Peter on history homework.”

Tony laughed. “Me too.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “You’re no help when it comes to history.” He gave his husband a bland look.

Tony waved a hand at him before adjusting his tie. “That’s what you think, Underoos finds my knowledge to be quite informative.”

“You just mean he laughs every time you make wry comments about the actual history I’m trying to teach him.”

The door to the limo came open just as Tony smirked at his husband. “Well someone has to liven it up. Kid’s liable to fall asleep.” Making his way out of the limo Tony put on his game face and waved at the news reporters. Steve was quick to join him, a hand at his back as the pair moved away from the relative safety of the limo and into the limelight. 

The questions that started firing off at them were expected but ignored. Even though the news of them adopting Peter had well and truly hit the fan a few weeks back, it didn’t mean that the pair were prepared to answer questions about Peter. Thus far they’d managed to avoid the kid's name being splashed across the pages, even Steve knew it was just a matter of time before that happened. 

Still, he hoped it lasted a bit longer seeing as Peter had begun to settle into a rhythm of sorts with them, no longer keeping his guard up around them as when he first came to live with them. Steve didn’t want anyone to ruin the progress they made, and throwing Peter into this chaos was sure to disrupt that. Leaning towards Tony, Steve whispered. “Have you seen your love child today Mr. Stark.”

Tony twisted his face with a sharp grin. “Misplaced him.”

Steve chuckled along with him as they finally managed to get away from the reporters into the safety of the venue that night. The questions that some reporters could come up with still managed to surprise them even after so long. Steve took a deep breath when someone approached them not even ten feet inside the building.

“Ah Mr. Stark, Mr. Rogers how wonderful to see you.”

Tony elbowed him in the ribs when he made a small noise that insinuated that the feeling wasn’t mutual. Steve could put up with a lot, but this man in particular always irked him.

“Donovan, lovely to see you're still in business, thought we might lose you after that whole stolen car fiasco.”

The rattled man gave a painted on smile to Tony. “Yes, a mishap that’s been cleared up.” He inforced with the tight smile.

Tony gave a clear smile back. “I’m sure.”

Steve had to fight back the urge to laugh, Tony had done that on purpose, more than likely for his benefit. “Shall we?” He intruded, hoping to avoid any bloodshed for the night.

Donovan gave a clipped nod. “Right this way.”

Tony gave him a wry grin. “Shall we?”

Rolling his eyes Steve pushed his husband forward, at least tonight wasn’t going to be boring. Not if Tony was bringing up others shady dealings in public.

********

Peter ran across the rooftop, launching himself across the gap without having to use any webs. Not a stumble in his steps as he landed and was off again, he could have easily just swung around town towards his goal but that would draw attention and what with all the reporters who were bound to be there...Peter didn’t want attention to be on him. That was a sure-fire way to get caught. So he stuck to the rooftops with minimal web usage as he ran towards his goal, with any luck he’d find a good place to scope out the scenery. The teen didn’t hold out much hope on being able to see the festivities going on inside the building but if he could make sure that the surrounding area was clear of anybody intent on causing trouble then that would be enough. 

Peter was well aware that his foster parents could take care of themselves, it wasn’t as if Mr. Stark wasn’t without a suit at any given time and Mr. Rogers didn’t need his shield to protect himself. But this was a big event and the pair were going in as socialites and not superheroes, just because they forgot from time to time that Peter could hear things didn’t mean that Peter didn’t listen. 

He’d heard how Mr. Stark had told Mr. Rogers about the increased security that year due to some guy named Donovan taking over the thing. Peter wasn’t sure what the entire dinner party was about, other than the rich in the city showing off. That didn’t really matter, all that mattered was that Peter got to make sure that his foster parents didn’t get into a bind. From rooftop to rooftop Peter ate up the ground between him and the building that would be his final destination. 

**********

Tony yawned a very very fake yawn that earned him a perturbed look from his husband and the scrutiny of the people at their table. Tony grunted when he earned himself a jab in his ribs upon doing it again even as Steve smiled to those around them as if nothing was going on...Like Tony portraying their ever-present boredom. 

“Mr. Stark...I heard that you turned down a new contract with the government.”

Tony gave a charming smirk towards the woman who was prying for information about his involvement with the government, it made headline news almost daily. “Is that what they say?”

“Is it not true?” She countered.

Tony shrugged as he leaned back in his seat. “Don’t know...Haven’t really answered their messages lately.”

The woman’s eyes widened at the same time her mouth ajar, the rest of the group surrounding the small circular table looked decidedly uncomfortable upon hearing his admission. Tony was fine with that.

“We’ve been very busy lately.” Steve corrected his husband, just because Tony liked messing with people didn’t mean they should spark new rumors.

A man closest to him nodded. “Yes, the adoption was it?”

“Foster,” Tony replied with a roll of his eyes. “We’re only renting him.”

Steve forced himself to smile even as he kicked Tony under the table earning a sharp hiss from Tony who sat upright in a hurry to lean forward and cradle his knee under the table.

“Mr. Stark is everything alright?”

Tony made a pained affirmative even as he sent a steely look towards his husband who was correcting the man Tony had just spoken too.

“We’re fostering him, he’s not really ready to talk about adoption.”

The man’s brow furrowed. “Why wouldn’t he want to be adopted?” He sent a calculating look to those around him before giving Steve an intrigued look. “After all, both of you are quite affluent members of society. Surely he could see the benefits of being adopted by the two of you.”

“Money isn’t everything,” Tony replied easily enough when the man insinuated that his wealth and their life as superheroes were reason enough to be adopted. “Besides the kids not impressed with designer clothes...Prefers a hoodie.” That much was at least true, Peter had only been forced to dress up once since he joined them at the tower and that was to testify on behalf of himself and the other foster children at his previous foster parents hearing. 

By the end of it, Peter had been complaining about wearing a tie and making small comments about never wanting to be in a suit again. Tony’s resounding comment of him wearing one damn near every day was met with laughter before Peter retorted that the particular suit he was referring too didn’t include a tie. 

“I’m sure that he’ll figure out how to dress accordingly, after all, you are his foster parent.” A woman sang quite clearly. “You dress like the best of us Mr. Stark, I’m sure the boy will have ample time to find his footing among us.”

Tony gave a cheery grin as he was prepared to tell the woman that there was no way in hell he was going to force Peter to these things only to be waylaid by his phone beeping. “Ah...Sorry.” Opening his jacket and fishing out his phone he ignored the annoyed look on his husband's face, so he forgot to shut it off, sue him. Bringing the phone out of the pocket but well shrouded by the interior of his jacket Tony raised a brow at the message that flashed on the screen of his phone.

“Problem Mr. Stark?”

Tony hummed as he shoved his phone away before meeting the curious gazes of the people at his table. “Oh no, just my foster kid telling me goodnight.”

The group smiled even as Tony leaned over to whisper to Steve. “I told you so.” Steve frowned for all of a moment before Tony added. “Curfew is a bust.”

Steve sighed, having a teenager really should have prepared him for such a thing but Peter was such a good kid he’d honestly thought the boy might stay in and do his homework. Tony patted his thigh as if he was apologizing for being right, Steve knew better. Giving his husband a put-out look, Steve was forced once more to play along as Tony began conversing with the rest of the people at their table. Putting on his own fake smile, Steve prepared himself for a very boring night all the while wondering what Peter might be up too.

*********

Peter smiled as he finished securing the struggling men to the wall. He pointed a sharp finger at them. “You should know better, I mean robbing is wrong and breaking into someone's car is worse...Well, sorta.” He shrugged. “It’s mean at the very least they’ll have to fix that window you broke which isn’t very fair to them since they were parked legally and all.”

“Screw you!” The man on the left shouted even as he futilely struggled against the webs that were holding him hostage against the wall.

Sighing Peter muttered to himself. “Cause that’ll make me let you go.” Shaking his head the teen was quick to point out. “The cops will be here soon, you picked a really bad place to be a criminal tonight.” The teen glanced down the alleyway he was currently shrouded in. The bright lights of the venue could still be seen all the way down the alleyway and few blocks over, lord knew how bright the actual place might be. Peter was thankful that his mask was calibrated to auto adjust to such a thing otherwise he might be blind.

Shaking his head, Peter turned his attention back to the struggling thieves. “Well, have a good night in jail.” Peter shot up a line of web and pulled himself up the side of the building. He crouched at the top and stared down at the two caught criminals, waiting just long enough to be sure that the cops that arrived found the pair. With that done, Peter continued on his way. 

He’d been circling the venue for a while now, the would-be thieves were the first trouble he’d come across but Peter was glad to have helped. Running across the top of the building Peter threw himself forward as he shot a line of webbing to a nearby signpost, using it to give him forward mobility to the farthest building in his circuit. Landing without a single hitch in his step the teen ran across the roof to continue his patrol. 

The party was only supposed to go for another hour, though Mr. Stark had commented numerous times about things like this having after parties. Peter wasn’t sure if Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers intended to attend such a thing or whether or not the party was held at the same place. Either way, the teen was prepared to follow after them if the need arose. They took care of him, it seemed only fair that he look out for them when they were supposed to be having an easy going night. 

Peter skidded to a stop when movement caught his eye, twisting his head the teen sighed. Well, at least car thieves seemed to be the choice of criminals everywhere that night. Running to the farthest edge of the roof, Peter shot a line of web and threw himself forward across the street towards the would-be car thieves. Maybe he could manage to avoid any damage to the fancy cars that the criminals were scoping out that night.

********

Tony laughed as he fell into the Limo, grunting when Steve shoved him further in so he could climb inside along with him. Straightening himself out Tony smirked at the irritated man who was sending a rather scathing look his way.

“It was funny.” Tony pleaded.

“No, it wasn’t. Do you have any idea what we’re going to have to hear on the news tomorrow?”

Tony shrugged before carelessly replying. “Stark admits to sexcapades with a 100-year-old man?”

Steve let his head fall back against the headrest of the seat with a deep sigh even as Tony laughed at his own joke. “That’s not funny.”

“Only because it’s true.”

Steve glared back at his amused husband. “You know they’re going to have a field day with that, those people can’t keep things to themselves. Those news reporters are going to ge-”

“They’ll get some ooey-gooey story which will slander us in every way possible, earn them a quick buck and then most likely depending on how merciful I am might evade being sued.”

Steve glowered back at the cocky man. “You can’t just sue people because they say something about you that you admitted to.”

“In confidence.” Tony nodded. “I trust those people with my sordid secrets and there they go spilling the beans to the closest news source.”

“Tony.”

Tony smirked at the perturbed look his husband was issuing him. “Would you relax Steve, we both know they would have found something to gossip about, far better for it to come from us than some banshee who has nothing better to do than make up stories about us.”

Tony had a point in some sick twisted way, but Steve wasn’t prepared to admit as much. “Let’s just go home.”

Tony hummed, well aware that he’d ‘won’ the argument seeing as Steve was changing the subject. Fishing out his phone from his inner coat pocket, Tony swiped his finger across the screen and tapped a few buttons to bring up any feeds from Friday. The alert of Peter leaving the tower was still there from a few hours again and just forty-five minutes prior was another alert of the boy returning home. Nodding to himself Tony was proud to state. “Well, he followed curfew.”

Steve snorted. “You already said he snuck out.”

Tony smiled back at his husband. “That I did, but he also went back before midnight.”

Steve rolled his eyes as if Peter’s choice to be in bed before they got back was somehow redeeming his choice of leaving altogether.

“You’ve got to hand it to him, babe, he knew how to play the system.”

“He got caught.”

“I said the system, not my system.” Tony smiled cheekily.

Steve chuckled, poor Peter was going to find out the hard way that he couldn’t just expect to sneak things under their noses. “So what’s the plan then?”

Tony hummed as if he was truly thinking about it. “Tony,” Steve muttered, his irritated tone of voice telling his husband to stop playing around with him.

“Well, the way I see it we can play this one of many ways...The most obvious being confronting his little wall climbing butt about his jaunt outside while we were gone.” 

Steve smirked. “Uh-huh. Or?”

“Or, we play along as nothing happened and let him feel like he got one up on us.”

Steve frowned. “Why would we do that?”

“Simple, if he thinks he got away with it he’ll be more likely to do it again.”

“That’s what we don’t want Tony.” Steve sighed.

The man waved a hand dismissively. “No, hear me out. If Peter thinks he can get one by us and sneak out from time to time, then that means that we’ll actually know when he’s going out on his own.”

Steve sighed. “I can’t help but feel that this was something we should have planned for before now.”

“Probably because we should have,” Tony replied easily. “But that doesn’t matter now, what matters now is what we’re going to do about it.”

Steve shook his head. “I don’t want to let him think that he’s getting away with something Tony. Like you said, he’d just be prone to doing it again and I’d much rather that he follow the rules from the get-go then go back and forth with him on things.”

Tony bobbed his head as he listened to his husband, Steve had a point, he always did but Tony could see how the ‘rules’ which were always a serious thing for Steve fell into play now that they had a foster son. “Alright...Fine, say we confront him, what do we say? Don’t sneak out at night?” Tony snorted. “Cause I hate to tell you babe that never worked on me and I couldn’t climb up walls.”

Steve huffed. “Good point.”

Nodding Tony glanced back to his phone, tapping the messages to see when exactly Peter had left and when he got back. Where he entered and exited from. Same old same old left through his bedroom window. “I think we need to move him to the other bedroom.”

“Huh?”

“The one without windows.”

“That’s a closet, Tony,” Steve muttered dryly.

“That works.” Tony glanced up from the phone to smile at his husband. “He’s been sneaking out from his bedroom window...If he doesn’t have one then-”

“Then he’ll use another one.” Steve cut in. “The tower has hundreds of windows Tony, there’s no way we can stop him from sneaking out like that without making sure that he’s following the rules from the beginning.”

Tony huffed, put out to have his grand idea squashed. Not that Steve wasn’t right, the tower was huge and had a lot of windows. There was no telling all the different ways Peter would find to escape the tower. 

“Let’s just get home, we can confront him and make sure that he knows that he can’t do this anymore. He has a curfew for a reason.”

Tony hummed. “True...Then again, most teens don’t care about that.” Steve sent an impatient look his way. “What? I’m just telling the truth. 

Shaking his head Steve looked out the window of the limo and waited. They’d be home soon and when they got there they could have a talk with Peter about his exploits that night.

*********

Peter had managed to snap up no less than three car thieve rings over the course of the night, all of which seemed centered around the event that Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers were at. Whether that was because of all the fancy cars or because of the things he’d overheard Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers talking about earlier he wasn’t sure. All that did matter was that Peter had put a stop to such a thing, the cops were on standby given the large turnout at the event which made his job all the easier. Besides the car thieves, Peter had managed to rescue an old lady from a purse snatcher, stop a car from hitting some pedestrians and kept a close vigil on the event itself. Not bad for a few hours out on the town.

Returning home had been a big decision, ultimately Peter thought that it might be prudent to make sure he beat the other men home just in case Mr. Stark decided on a whim to check out of the event as he was prone to doing. So the teen had made the short trek back to the tower, snuck back into his room via the window and dressed down. Comfortable sweatpants and a shirt later and Peter was crashing on the couch, the news playing about the event in general and some traffic accidents. It all jumbled together as Peter drifted off on the couch, the teen missing the following broadcast about Spider-man’s heroics that night.

*********

“Do you think he realizes how badly this is going to be for him?” Tony whispered as he stood at the foot of the couch beside Steve. The news was going in its ever-present circle, the pair had arrived home and made quick work of coming back up to the penthouse only to find Peter passed out on the couch as if he’d never left. That might have been a good alibi if it weren’t for Tony’s phone and the current broadcast depicting the cops peeling some would-be car thieves off of a brick wall where they’d been glued by webbing.

“I doubt it,” Steve muttered tiredly. “Come on, let’s get him to bed.” Walking alongside the couch Steve leaned over and gently shook Peter’s shoulder. “Peter.”

The boy groaned, shifting on his side to get away from the man’s meddlesome hands. Giving a small huff of laughter Steve tried again. “Peter come on buddy, you gotta wake up.”

Peter groaned again but had no alternative other than to wake up, the couch only had so much space for him to escape from bothersome hands. The teen raised and arm to rub at his eyes as he twisted to stare at Steve.

“Mr. Rogers?”

Steve chuckled. “Steve, you can call me Steve, Peter.”

The boy mumbled something unintelligible before blinking owlishly up at the man. “You’re back?”

Steve smiled only to sigh when Tony cut in. “We are, man what a night...You didn’t stay up all night trying to wait for us did you kid?”

Peter canted his head up to stare down the length of the couch at Mr. Stark. “No.” Peter reasoned as he rubbed his eyes. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep out here.”

Tony bobbed his head as he turned to stare at the T.V which was still showing what Spider-man had done that night. “Makes sense...Got tired, crashed at the nearest available surface.” Peter nodded only to freeze when Tony added. “Man you had to be booking it to cover that kind of surface area...How many laps would you say you did?”

Peter followed the man’s gaze towards the T.V. where the news was presently showing where one of the many crimes he’d thwarted was on a city map. Shit.

Steve shook his head when he saw the deer in the headlights look. "So...About that curfew.”

Peter groaned as he fell backward onto the couch, throwing an arm over his shoulder. “I hate the news.”

Tony gave a loud bark of laughter. “Yeah, sucks when they call you out huh kid?”

Steve smiled at his foster son’s plight. “You had to know that we’d find out.”

Peter still hiding beneath his arm shook his head. 

“Ooh I want to hear this, how on earth did you think that you’d avoid detection underoos?”

Peter huffed at the nickname but muttered. “I didn’t go near any cameras.”

Tony snorted. “Right because leaving some thugs plastered to a brick wall with webbing totally wouldn’t tie things back to you.”

Peter let his arm slide off his face as he turned to stare at the news report. “It’s not like I carry rope.”

“Might have gotten away with it if you had,” Tony remarked coolly. “Then again, you wouldn’t have.”

Peter glanced back at his foster parent and frowned. “What?”

Steve patted the boy's shoulder and pointed upward, Peter followed the man’s finger towards the ceiling. “Umm? Ceiling?”

Steve chuckled. “Friday.”

“What about her?”

Steve shook his head. “She tells us when someone comes in and out of the tower Peter, that includes your bedroom window.”

Peter stared critically up at the ceiling. “I got tattled on by a computer?”

Tony laughed. “Sorry kiddo, looks like Friday’s more with it than you are.”

Peter sulked, glancing towards Steve as he remarked. “It’s not like I got hurt.”

“That’s not the point Peter.”

“I was back before midnight.” The teen tried to gain favor with the man.

“Yeah knew that already.” Tony tapped his phone. “Nice touch though, get a gold star for trying to keep up the ruse.”

Peter looked at Steve. “Can you just ground me, he’s getting mean.”

Steve chuckled at the teen’s rebuttal to Tony’s teasing. “You’re grounded.”

“Thanks.” Peter huffed. “Can I go to bed?”

“Hey now, just because my loving husband is okay with grounding you doesn’t mean I am.”

Both Steve and Peter looked at Tony in confusion, the genius nodded. “So you’re grounded, good job snookums.” Steve rolled his eyes as Tony congratulated him on grounding their foster son. “Now, my end of the deal is this underoos. I’m going to make a small adjustment to that fancy suit you’ve got hanging up in your closet.” Leaning forward to rest his hands on the end of the couch, Tony smiled. “And that little adjustment is going to make Friday seem tame.”

“Umm...What do you mean?”

Tony pushed himself up off of the couch and gave a wave as he twisted about and headed towards his and Steve’s bedroom. “Night Underoos, don’t stay up you’re already in trouble.”

Peter gave a nod despite the man not seeing it when Mr. Stark was out of eyesight did the teen look towards Steve. “What’d he mean?”

Steve shook his head. “Don’t know.” Then because there was nothing else to be said about Tony’s end of the punishment, the super-soldier added. “You know why you’re grounded right?”

“Cause I snuck out.”

“That.” Steve nodded. “And you lied to us.”

Peter winced, looking down away from the man’s critical stare. "Right...Sorry.”

“Look, Peter, we know that there are going to be times where you want to go out...Even if you just want to follow us, but you gotta listen to us. We’re the adults here and we’re responsible for you, and if you’d gotten into trouble tonight, if Spider-man had made a grander appearance on the news than just that and so close to where we were...People connect the dots.”

“Right.” Peter nodded. “I-I didn’t think about that.”

“I know.” Steve knelt down and smiled at the kid who was doing his best to avoid his gaze. “I get it, you wanted to help or at the very least keep an eye on us.” He chuckled. “Trust me, I’m sure your night was far more entertaining than what we had to put up with but that doesn’t mean that you can just go off and do what you want when we tell you to stay home.”

“I know.” Peter nodded once more, finally lifting his gaze to assure Steve. “I won’t do it again.”

Steve smiled. “Peter, I’d love to believe you, but you gotta prove it to me.”

Peter grimaced but was forced to nod since there wasn’t really much he could do to counter the man’s argument. He had betrayed their trust and it made sense that he’d have to be responsible and listen to them in order to get it back.

“Go to bed alright? We’ll talk some more in the morning.” Steve patted the kid's shoulder before rising to follow after his husband.

Peter sighed, flopping back onto the couch the teen muttered. “T.V. off.” The noise of the newscasters cut out, leaving Peter laying there in silence for a time. Taking a deep breath Peter rolled off of the couch and trudged down the hallway towards his bedroom, once safely ensconced did the teen mutter. “Not cool Friday.”

“I’m sorry Peter, but protocol dictates that boss be made aware of any and all-”

“Yeah yeah.” Peter huffed as he flopped down onto his bed, so much for being stealthy.

**********

Being grounded wasn’t fun, go figure. Peter wasn’t unfamiliar with the prospect of it, May had grounded him a few times...More so after he got his abilities and started lying to her. But that didn’t matter now, what mattered now was that he was being grounded for being Spider-man. It sucked. Going from school to his home in the tower Peter was forced to do his homework and then study for any upcoming tests before he was allowed to work in the lab and that wasn’t even the fun lab...It was what Peter was referring too as the kiddie lab. 

Namely the original lab he was a member of through the internship program, he couldn’t do any of the cool experiments he and Mr. Stark got up to on their own. What was worse than being forced to focus on the project of amplifying his web solution without Mr. Starks's help was the fact that the lab techs knew who he was now and that he was grounded.

Peter sulked at his table as he mixed a few compounds that he was sure weren’t stable enough to even remotely be considered webbing but he was bored and had nothing else better to do. Mr. Stark had forbidden him from being in the main lab, he couldn’t watch T.V. not that he was overly a fan of it. Movies were far better in Peter’s opinion, which meant that he was stuck doing the lab work here or nothing at all. Peter huffed as he fell forward to slouch over the desk itself, watching as the components in the beaker began to bubble. Peter was pretty sure it wasn’t going to explode so he left it to do whatever it wanted.

“Do your homework?”

Peter jumped, nearly falling off of his stool only to be caught under his armpits by Steve who chuckled for having startled his foster son. Peter slouched in his hold.

“Not cool.”

Chuckling Steve helped the kid right himself before walking around to stand opposite of him, he glanced down at the kid's project before frowning. “That doesn’t look right.”

Peter snorted. “Cause it’s not.” Peter leaned forward once more and tapped the beaker, watching a large bubble rose to the surface only to pop.

“And it’s wrong because?” Steve gave the boy a confused look, he knew Peter could make this stuff in his sleep so for the life of him Steve wasn’t sure why it wasn’t working. Peter shrugged. Nodding when the answer became clear, Steve gave the boy an encouraging smile. “It’s only for another week Peter.”

“I know.” Peter nodded. “Still sucks.” Then tempering his voice so no one else would hear, the teen muttered. “I saved an old lady and I’m in trouble for it.”

Steve laughed, shaking his head at the teen. “That might be so, but you know why.”

Peter huffed as he laid his chin onto his folded arms, staring intently into the bubbling beaker.

“It’s not going to explode is it?” Peter hummed. “Peter?”

“Fifty-fifty chance.”

Steve sighed at the rather droll answer, walking around the table he patted the kid's shoulder. “I’ll see you upstairs, try not to make a mess.”

“Mmhmm.”

Steve left Peter to his sulking, it was clear the teen wasn’t going to do any real work down there so there was no reason to stick around to talk. Peter at the very least had taken the grounding to heart, he’d been doing his best to keep to their rules and hadn’t broken any thus far. The super soldier hoped that this was all that was needed to set a standard for him because Steve hated grounding the kid about as much as Peter hated being grounded. 

Making his way to another lab, the one where he knew his husband was at that present time Steve walked in only to grimace at the loud music. “Friday.”

The music cut off abruptly which saw his husband’s head coming up from where he was welding something in one of his suits. The welder's mask was flipped back with a jerk of his head allowing Tony to huff when he found who was interrupting him.

“I’m busy can’t you tell?”

Steve snorted as he looked at the suit of armor his husband was currently welding. “I can see that.”

“Good. I love you, bye.” Tony flipped the welder's helmet back down and was prepared to continue welding.

“Peter’s pouting.”

The genius paused just as he was about to fire up the acetylene torch again. The mask was flipped back, Tony was frowning. “Why?”

“Cause he’s grounded.”

Tony snorted. “He’s been grounded for a week, pretty late to start pitching a fit now.”

“He’s not-” Steve sighed only to shake his head. “He’s bored, he’s not really complaining Tony...Though he did make a remark about being punished for saving an old lady.”

Tony laughed. “Nice.”

Smiling back at his amused husband, Steve couldn’t help but ask. “So when are you lifting your ban?”

Tony tilted his head. “Why? You pardoning the kid?”

Steve snorted. “I’m not pardoning him, Tony, he’s not some criminal who was given a life sentence.”

Tony shrugged as he set aside the torch and pulled the welder's helmet from his head. Setting it down on a nearby table the genius made his way towards Steve and leaned upon a nearby desk. “Alright, fine...Why are you trying to get me to allow Underoos back in the lab? Thought you were all for the whole punishment thing.”

“I am.” Steve nodded. “I’m not saying to let him back in the lab, I was just curious. He’s downstairs in the internship lab...Making bubbles.”

“Excuse me?” Tony frowned. “That lab has multimillion-dollar tech and he’s making bubbles?”

Steve shrugged. “It was his web fluid but it was bubbling and when I asked about it he said that it wasn’t right...Then insinuated that it had a fifty-fifty chance of exploding.”

Huffing at the boy's dramatics in front of Steve, Tony remarked. “It can’t explode.”

“Good to know.”

Giving his husband a put-out look, Tony stated. “I’m almost done with what I’m doing...When I’m done then Underoos will be unbanned from the lab.”

Steve raised a brow. “What are you doing?”

Tony smirked, pressing forward he kissed Steve with a quick peck on the lips stepped back and said. “See you later snookums.”

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Steve twisted about and made to leave. After being with Tony as long as he had, Steve knew when Tony wasn’t going to give him answers on particular subjects, the biggest of which were always to do with his lab.

“Don’t stay down here all night, he’ll think you’re avoiding him.”

Tony gave a nod as he put on the welder's helmet. “Underoos can’t get rid of me that easily.”

Steve chuckled as he exited the lab, shaking his head when the music went back to blasting. Leaving Tony to his work, Steve pondered on his way up the penthouse how long it would take for Peter’s mood to improve...Probably a week given that was how long he was still grounded for. 

*********

Peter frowned when Mr. Stark came up from the lab late one evening as Peter was doing homework on the ouch under Mr. Rogers's watchful eye.

“I’m done.”

Peter glanced at Mr. Rogers as if to ask ‘what’s that mean?’ Based on the look on the other man’s face, he wasn’t sure either. Well, that was good.

“Well, come on.”

“Tony wha-”

Tony clapped his hands. “All questions have to wait until we’re in the lab.” He pointed at Peter. “Up and atom kid, you wanted back in the lab here’s your chance. I need you to try something on.”

“Umm...Okay?” Peter set aside his homework and rose from the couch, giving Mr. Rogers a skeptical look that garnered him a smirk.

“Come on Peter, I doubt he’s going to poke you with things.” Steve teased as he pressed the boy forward.

“Don’t tempt me!” Tony shouted as he rounded and strode towards the elevator.

Peter leaned into Mr. Rogers's arms as the man pushed him forward, just enough to whisper. “He didn’t tell you what this is?”

“No.”

Peter sighed. “That’s never good.”

Steve chuckled at the boy's assessment of his husband's activities when all three of them were in the elevator and the descending lift was taking them to Tony’s lab did the man himself twist about and smile at them.

“I’m already grounded, Mr. Stark.”

Tony snorted. “Cute, but no, you’re not in trouble and I’m not about to dissect you either.”

“Umm...”

“Ignore him, Peter.” Steve sighed all the while giving Tony a piercing look for that particular joke seeing as it was one of the boy's innate fears after he’d told them what really happened at Oscorp.

Tony waved a hand. “You're fine. Now, rules.”

Peter nodded, used to having a rundown of what he was and wasn’t allowed to do in a lab.

“No touchy anything until I’m done.”

“Alright, what are we doing?”

Tony smirked, twisted about and fell silent. Peter glanced up at Mr. Rogers only to get a smile back in return, a smile that clearly spoke of how clueless the other man was himself. Sighing Peter muttered. “Bet the old lady would have something to say about this.”

Steve chuckled as Peter once again brought up the elderly lady he had saved the night of the party as if she was some deciding factor in his punishment. 

The elevator came to a stop and the trio disembarked into the lab at large, Tony leading them through the security gate and further into the lab itself. There sprawled out on one of the tables was Peter’s suit.

“Umm...When’d you take that?”

Tony smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Peter nodded but got no response other than the man waving his hand at it. “Well, go change.”

Peter gave a skeptical look towards Mr. Stark and then a wary one towards Mr. Rogers. The latter smiled at him in a reassuring manner but didn’t bother to speak up on his behalf. Sighing Peter took the suit and walked into the small bathroom to put it on.

Steve watched the teen depart, looking back to his smirking husband he questioned. “What’d you do?”

Tony smiled, lifted his finger to his mouth in a ‘quiet’ gesture and waited. Steve scowled after him, but Tony wanted to hear it. Sure enough not a minute later there was a loud exclamation from inside the bathroom.

“ Ahh! Who are you?!”

“Peter?!” Steve made to barge into the bathroom after the teen only to have Tony who was laughing uproariously grab his arm and stop him. Shaking his head side to side as he managed to rasp out.

“AI.”

Steve froze, frowned and then looked towards the bathroom where he could hear Peter stammering off a series of questions all the while the teen was apparently crashing into things. Sighing the super-soldier pulled his arm free of Tony only to scowl at the laughing man. “That’s mean, he’s not used to having an AI in his suit.”

“I know!” Tony laughed.

Rolling his eyes, Steve made his way to the bathroom and after a soft knock opened it to find Peter sprawled in a corner. “You okay?”

“There’s a lady in my mask.”

Steve smirked. “Yeah, that was Tony’s doing.”

“She’s talking to me.”

“I bet.” Holding out his hand, Steve offered the teen some help back to his feet. Guiding Peter out into the lab at large he glared at his still laughing husband. “Tell him what he needs to know Tony.”

Tony cleared his throat, laughing so hard had made it hard to speak at first. “Right...Right, uh think Friday but with training wheels.”

“What?” The affronted sound of the teen's voice was prevented from stating more when the teen uttered. “No...I don’t know, umm...Google it?”

Tony smirked at Steve. “Careful what you tell it to google kid, safety search is your friend.”

Steve groaned at his husband's tauntings. “Peter, take the mask off so we can talk about this.” He sent a scathing look towards his husband when Peter didn’t do as asked because he was too busy answering the AI.

“I don’t think so...That’s kinda cool. I didn’t know that.”

Tony chuckled, shaking his head he walked forward and without any pause ripped the mask off the kid's head.

Peter stumbled a bit before catching himself, blinking a few times Peter huffed. “She was saying something.”

“Yeah, she can wait.” Tony tossed the mask onto the table beside himself. “So, what’d you think?”

Peter gave a smirk. “She’s cool...I mean, all AI’s are, but why’s she in my mask?”

“Thought you could use the upgrade.”

Peter frowned. “Okay...What does she do?”

“Pretty much anything Friday does for me when I’m suited up...Minus the lasers.”

Peter smirked at Mr. Rogers when the man uttered a quick. “He doesn’t have any weapons on his suit, Tony.”

“Just my webs.”

“And that my spiderling is what she’s good at.” Tony picked up the mask and waved it about as if it were some kind of flag. “She can tell you any manner of combinations to make those lovely webs of yours more effective. She’s good at trajectory so maybe we won’t have as many head-on collisions and the piece de la resistance. Protocols.”

Peter groaned even as Tony began laughing, Steve smirked when he clued into what this was all about. 

“Oh why yes Underoos, that fancy lady in your mask is going to tell me everything and I do mean EVERYTHING. No more sneaking out at night, Friday might only be able to tell me when you do it, but this baby will tell me where you go, what you did, and how many times you did it.”

Peter grumbled back at the man. “That’s not fair.”

Tony pointed a finger at him. “Zip it, you snuck out of the house and went fighting bad guys after dark mister without a hall pass. Rules are rules, you have a curfew and if you don’t follow it or try to work around it, she’ll send me a nice little message and your GPS coordinates. And if you think it's bad that we're harping on you now what will all the bad doers think when Iron-man shows up to tell you you're out past curfew?"

Steve smirked as he listened to Tony read Peter the riot act, no wonder he’d gone easy on his end of the grounding thing. He’d been saving up for this. He never should have doubted the man’s ability to work around other people, or his ability to make sure what he wanted came to pass. 

“So she’s like Friday?” Steve stepped in.

Tony nodded. “Just about, few reductions on that part but nothing that Underoos here would ever need.” Then he pointedly stated. “She also integrates with Friday.”

Peter huffed and in a lackluster voice muttered. “Neato.”

Chuckling Steve left Peter to sulk as he questioned Tony. “You going to tell me about those protocols?”

“Later babe,” Tony promised even as he grinned to Peter, throwing the mask and forcing him to catch it. “On the plus side Underoos, you’ll never be alone. She can give you answers when you need them and if you ever need back up she’ll get us there before you can say ‘please don’t ground me for this.’”

Peter glowered. “That’s not funny.”

“It’s hilarious. Now, the only thing she doesn’t have is a name.”

Peter frowned. “A name?”

“Yes, an identifier, something that people call her...Like Friday for instance.”

Peter looked down at his mask. “I get to name the AI?”

“Sure,” Tony smirked. “She’s for you after all, even if she is going to be spiderling sitting for me.”

Peter made a displeased face at the man, but his gaze drifted back down to the mask. “How do I name her?”

“Just put on the mask and tell her what you want her name to be, she’ll do the rest,” Tony assured the youth. “Make sure it doesn’t suck, cause you’re stuck with it.”

Peter rolled his eyes as the man’s lie. “You can rename anything with coding Mr. Stark.”

The man smirked. “Ah, but are you good enough to do that yourself?”

Peter bit his lip, looked down at the mask and muttered. “I’ll make sure it’s a good one.”

Tony and Steve chuckled. “Smart move Underoos.”

**********

“Hey, Karen?” Peter panted as he swung himself forward towards his present goal.

“Yes, Peter?”

Grunting as he had to maneuver around a sharp turn, Peter went airborne only to land on a nearby roof and start running towards the edge of the opposite side of it. “Can you let Mr. Stark know I’m going to be late.”

“Of course Peter, the message has been sent.”

Peter shot off a line of web and with a loud whoop of excitement, the teen went swinging down through the city. He made it two blocks before his mask lit up with an incoming call, smirking Peter waited for it to connect. Sure enough Mr. Stark appeared, Mr. Rogers was doing something in the kitchen behind him thought he man’s attention turned to address him as well.

“What’s up kid?”

Peter took a deep breath as he arched himself up into the air again. “Car chase.”

Tony smirked as he watched Peter’s facial expressions change on the fly as he the kid maneuvered around the city. “Anything good?”

Peter huffed. “Almost hit a taxi.”

“You or them?”

“Mr. Stark,” Peter whined.

Tony laughed. “Alright-Alright, go get em’.”

“Come home right after,” Steve called from behind the man. “No looking for more trouble on your way back.”

“Alright...Oooh, SHIT!” Peter twisted sharply to avoid the light pole.

“Peter?!”

The teen panted and then laughed having scared not only himself but his foster parents. “Soo...There’s a new light pole on fifth street.”

Tony laughed uproariously while Steve shook his head. “Please be careful.”

“Yeah, don’t let yourself get KO’d by a streetlight underoos.”

“I’ll be home as soon as I catch up to them...Shouldn’t take long they can’t drive very well.” Peter stated as he swung about a little out of breath. “Right now they’re driving on the sidewalk up ahead.”

“Just be careful, we’ll see you when you get home.”

“Alright. Bye.” The call disconnected and Peter with a wide grin stated. “Alright Karen, what’s the best route to cut them off?”

“Calculating...”

*******

Tony smirked as the screen changed back to the T.V. channel he’d been watching previously, glancing over the back of the couch towards Steve, Tony remarked. “I think giving him an AI was a good idea.”

Steve snorted. “You’ve been saying that for the last month Tony.” Then because it needed to be said added. “Maybe update it so it can alert him to new obstacles?”

Tony chuckled. “I’ll get right on that babe, but you gotta hand it to the kid, he’s fast on the fly.”

“He almost hit a light pole going who knows how fast.” Steve retorted.

Tony hummed. “Friday how fast was Peter going?”

Steve groaned, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know that.

“Peter’s current speed is 43 miles per hour.”

Tony gave a nod, twisting to smile at his husband as he remarked. “See, he’s even listening to my rule of not going over fifty in town.”

Steve scowled at his husband. “That’s not funny.”

Tony laughed as he turned to regard the T.V. a moment. “Face it, babe, the kid’s a natural...Well, other than the whole being a mutated teenager.”

Steve rolled his eyes as he returned to making dinner. “Yeah, other than that.”

Friday interrupted their banter not even a minute later. “Peter would like you to know that he is on his way home and that the criminals were apprehended.”

Tony snorted. “Of course they were, he wasn’t going to let them go if they asked nicely.”

A second later Friday chimed in. “He would also like you to be aware that he didn’t hit anything while chasing them.”

Tony snorted. “Yeah, will you and Karen back him up on that?”

“Karen is no longer reachable, the interface module has been shut off.”

Tony chuckled. “Cute Underoos, trying to delete footage before you get home huh?”

Steve smirked as he stirred the pasta about, unable to withhold his comment of. “You never made that a rule.”

Tony huffed. “Friday add a new protocol to Peter’s suit-”

Steve laughed at what his comment had caused, Peter wasn’t going to be too happy to hear that he’d been caught again, especially when it was obvious he was trying so hard yet again to be stealthy. 

“Protocol added.”

Steve shook his head at his husband's actions.

“Peter would like you to know that he thinks that’s not funny.”

Tony smirked as he sat back on the couch, pleased with himself. “Tell Underoos to stop stalling and come face the music, he’s on the roof and I know it.”

“Message has been sent.”

  
  



End file.
